Historically, paging systems provided service to a limited geographic area using a relatively high-power centralized transmitting site. This arrangement worked well in small cities and municipalities, but often proved unsuitable for large metropolitan areas. To adequately serve a larger geographic area, paging systems began to simulcast (i.e., transmit the same message at substantially the same time) from several transmitters strategically positioned to provide wide-area coverage. In such a system, an individual having a selective call receiver (pager) could receive information anywhere in the metropolitan paging service area.
Today, the trend in paging communication is to provide even greater geographic coverage. Nationwide paging systems are often contemplated in an attempt to provide paging messages to customers without regard to where they are in the United States (for example). One known multi-city paging system employs satellites to transmit paging messages to ground repeaters in approximately eighty cities so that their customers can be paged while travelling in any of the covered cities. Regrettably, these contemporary satellite paging systems suffer from designed-in energy and paging traffic inefficiencies. That is, the system satellite link(s) often form a bottle-neck as regards delivering the paging messages. Also, these satellites are operated at full transmitter power, which is wasteful of energy, and degrades overall system efficiency. Accordingly, a need exists for a paging communication system that provides everyone with convenient, reliable and efficient paging service.